Boston Red Sox, Brian O’Halloran, +3.5 games
O’Halloran’s most widely publicized offseason move may turn out to be his worst. He traded Andrew Benintendi (-0.2) to Kansas City in exchange for Franchy Cordero (-0.6), a short-term negative impact to the Red Sox of nearly a half game.
He more than made up for that faux pas with a succession of less widely heralded hits. They have included:
The harvesting of three arms from the farm system. Josh Taylor (+0.6), Darwinzon Hernandez (+0.4) and Eduard Bazardo (+0.2) have allowed just 18 earned runs in 71 games amounting to 61 innings, a 2.66 ERA. Net impact: +1.2 games.
The signing of free agent Enrique Hernandez, formerly of the Dodgers. Installed as the team’s new center fielder, Hernandez hasn’t hit for average, but he’s delivered enough punch to measure in at +1.1 WAA.
The acquisition of reliever Adam Ottavino from the Yankees for basically nothing. Ottavino (+0.5) has a 2.75 ERA in 39 games.
A series of less-heralded free agent signings have sometimes helped and sometimes hurt. Those signees include Hunter Renfroe (+0.3), Martin Perez (+0.3) and – O’Halloran’s other significant dark mark thus far – Garrett Richards (-0.6). The net impact of his free agent signings other than Hernandez: -1.6 games.
The decision to let outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr. walk to free agency. Bradley landed in Milwaukee, where to date he has yielded the Brewers -1.4 WAA.